Plasma deposition has been used to deposit coatings for improving the barrier between the substrate on which this deposition is effected and the surrounding atmospheric or environmental conditions.
A plasma is a partially ionized gas or vapor containing ions, electrons and various neutral species, many of which are chemically highly reactive. This plasma state may be produced by strong electromagnetic fields, for example at radio or microwave frequency, and the resulting plasma-chemical reactions may be used, for example, to deposit thin film coatings.
There exists a very extensive body of literature on thin films prepared by plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition, which films are widely used in microelectronics technology, for example as passivation layers on account of their excellent barrier properties towards water molecules and alkali ions.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,485,666 issued Dec. 23, 1969, to Sterling et al., describes a method of directly depositing an electrically insulating, amorphous, adherent solid layer of silicon nitride upon a surface of a substrate. This method is carried out with a radio frequency power source to establish the plasma.
In this patent, as well as in the literature, reference is sometimes made to the fact that the surface on which the layer is deposited, may be unheated. However, it is, in every case, added that it is desirable to heat the surface in order to improve the bonding within the layer to prevent water or OH groups from being included in the layer. For example, in the above patent, it is stated that the layer of silicon nitride be deposited at a temperature less than 300.degree. C.; but, a subsequent step of heat treating the layer at a temperature of about 700.degree. C. to 900.degree. C. is recommended so that the silicon nitride layers be extremely hard, scratch and acid resistant.
There are three important limitations with this type of plasma deposition procedure. First, the use of a radio frequency plasma generator restricts it to relatively small surfaces or objects, i.e. surfaces or objects which may be placed between the electrodes forming the electric field required to generate the plasma. Second, the heating procedures of the prior art make it impossible to deposit these protective layers on substrates which cannot bear these temperatures without deforming or decomposing. Third, deposition rates by radio frequency plasma are inherently much slower than the same processes carried out at microwave frequency. For practical purposes, therefore, such as in a production line, radio frequency plasmas tend to be too slow, hence not cost effective.